


Blackout

by IveGotRedHair



Category: All Time Low
Genre: College AU, Coughing, Fever, M/M, Sickfic, Sneezing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-22
Updated: 2015-07-22
Packaged: 2018-04-10 16:42:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4399520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IveGotRedHair/pseuds/IveGotRedHair
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A blackout, a freezing dorm, one blanket and a sick roommate.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Blackout

Jack sighed as he deleted the words he’d spend twenty minutes typing. He’d been trying to write the same essay for hours and he just couldn’t make the words make sense. The lights flickered and he sighed again, damn dodgy fuses. The last thing he needed was for the power to go out, then he’d be really stuck. But that’s what you get when you live on campus, in a tiny dorm and a messy roommate. If he was honest Alex wasn’t that bad, he mostly kept himself to himself, working and studying. Sometimes they’d spend nights watching movies together but that was about as far as their friendship went.   
Jack got up, careful not to wake his sleeping roommate, who was passed in the chair across the room. Alex had come down with a very nasty cold and was in the process of trying to sleep it off, he’d only just drifted off an hour ago and Jack wasn’t about to wake him. Jack finished making his drink just as the lights flickered again, setting the dorm into darkness for a few seconds. Damn storm was messing with the electric, not that he expected anything less of Baltimore in the middle of November.   
Jack hadn’t long sat down when his phone buzzed, it was his mom.   
Mom – Put the radio on  
Jack was surprised enough his mom had actually text him, she hardly ever did, she was more the phone call type. Neither the less he opened up his laptop and clicked play on the one of the local stations.   
“Huge storm over Baltimore, avoid travelling at all costs and there’s a high chance of black....”  
The man on the radio didn’t get to finish his sentence as the power went out, taking the internet with it.   
“Shit,” Jack muttered.   
Now the dorm was only lit by the light of Jack’s laptop screen. Thinking he better see what the damage was Jack got up and moved over to the window. He pressed his face against the glass to try and see... Well anything. Everything just looked white with snow but there appeared to be no other lights about, the man on the radio had been right. It was a blackout.   
“Shit,” Jack said again as he tried to remember what to do in a blackout.   
Moving by the light from his phone Jack moved through the dorm and turned off all the appliances, making sure nothing blew when the power returned. He searched under the sink for a touch; he knew there was one around somewhere. He found one but the dimness of the light suggested the batteries wouldn’t hold out for long.   
“Well this is just great,” Jack grumbled.   
He used the touch to see his way back to the couch, picking up his hoodie on the way as without the heating it was about to get very cold in the dorm. Even with the heat on it was chilly so the warmth they had wouldn’t last long.   
Jack had just made it back to the couch with the dying touch when he sound of coughing nearly made him jump up again.   
“Christ Alex, I forgot you were here.”  
“What’s going on? Why is it so dark?” Alex asked, his voice horse and stuffed up.   
“Blackout, the storm has knocked out some power lines,” Jack explained.   
“Oh...”   
Alex coughed and Jack winced as they sounded painful.   
“Are you okay?” Jack asked.   
“Yeah... Yeah, just a cold,” Alex sniffed.   
“A fucking bad one,” Jack muttered.   
“What do we do now?” Alex asked.   
“Well I’ve turned off all the lights and stuff, stop them blowing when the power comes back. I also got a touch.”  
Just as Jack flicked it on light shone over to where Alex was lying before it died.   
“Shit, it’s out of batteries.”  
“There are some candles under the sink in the bathroom,” Alex said.   
“Oh right.”  
Jack got up again to get some as Alex sounded in no position to be going anywhere, Jack could hear his laboured breathing from across the room.   
Alex’s was right and there were in fact candles under the bathroom sink, he’d never have thought to look there. He brought out a few to the living room and littered them over the coffee table, lighting them so everything was bathed in an orangey grow.   
“Do you need anything?” Jack asked as Alex coughing again and in even in the low light Jack could see how pale he looked.   
“I’d ask for some tea but I think that’s a bit out of the question,” he croaked.   
“I don’t think I’d fancy a trip to Starbucks in this weather,” Jack said.   
Alex chuckled and groaned; his head was pounding and felt heavy like someone had been rocks in his ears. Basically he felt terrible, trust him to catch the worst cold in human history; everything was aching, his coughing was killing his chest and he’d forgotten what it was like to breathe through his nose. Alex curled back up no his chair and closed his eyes, hoping that when he woke the power would be back and he’d be able to get that mug of tea. 

Jack ended up under a blanket with his dying laptop trying to win a game of solitaire. There wasn’t much he could do with no internet and it’s not like his essay was going well anyway. Jack was bored and he really, really sucked at solitaire. It didn’t help that it practically freezing, he could see his breath against the light of the screen and the sleeves of his hoodie where pulled over his hands to try and keep them from falling off. He’d been right when he said the heat wouldn’t last long, it hadn’t been much over two hours when he’d had to seek warmth under a blanket.   
As Jack lost another game he was made to jump yet again by Alex, having again forgotten he was there.   
“Jack?” he croaked.   
“Hey, what’s up?” Jack asked.   
In the low light from the candles he could see Alex curled up on the chair, his hoodie pulled tight around him and beanie covering most of his messy hair.   
“C...Can... I have a blanket?” he asked, teeth chattering between the words.   
“Are you okay?”  
“I’m really cold...”   
Jack looked at the blanket covering his legs, it was the only spare one they had and well Alex the boy needed all the warmth he could get.   
“Come here, I’ll be your personal hot water bottle.”  
“Sure?” Alex asked, covering his face with his arm as he sneezed.   
“I don’t want to get you sick.”   
“Its fine, I actually have an immune system that works.”  
“Ha,” Alex replied, coughing harshly into his elbow.  
Alex shuffled over to the couch and collapsed beside Jack, he was shaking and his teeth chattering.   
“Are you okay?” Jack asked, covering Alex with the blanket and letting the boy get quite close to his side.   
“I don’t feel well,” Alex sniffed.   
Jack put his hand to Alex’s forehead and found him rather warm to the touch; Alex shivered under Jack’s touch and shuffled more under the blanket.   
“You’ve got a temperature,” Jack said.   
Alex groaned and weakly coughed against his wrist.   
“That’s some cold you’ve got.”  
“Lucky old me,” Alex moaned.   
“Sure you don’t need anything?” Jack asked.   
“Not unless you happen to have some chicken soup hiding under this blanket,” Alex sniffed.   
“Sorry can’t help you there and my mom makes the best chicken soup,” Jack said.   
“Oh yeah?”  
“Yeah, it’s an old family recipe from Lebanon,”   
“Your family is Lebanese?” Alex asked.   
“I was born there.”  
“I’m from England originally,” Alex said. 

They went on to speak about their homes, families and silly stories. Alex found out that Jack had two older siblings and that he was always getting in trouble as a child. Alex told of being an only child to older parents and how he was quite spoiled in most things, as far as going to a private school... Though he didn’t last very long.   
“When I was ill and off school, mum used to watch movies with me. I think it’s where my love of Titanic comes from,” Alex said.   
“I’ve never seen Titanic...” Jack admitted.   
“What?” Alex exclaimed, making him cough.   
“It’s one of those movies I’ve never get round to seeing.”  
“Pity we can’t watch it now, might distract me from feeling this shitty,” Alex said.   
Jack knew what was Alex was saying. It sucked being ill but being sick away from home was worse, away from the people you love, sitting in a freezing dorm with only your roommate for company. Jack wished he could think of something to comfort Alex or at least something to distract him from his cold.   
“I’ve got an idea.”  
Jack moved Alex away from his side and stood up, shivering without the warmth of the blanket.   
“What ‘a doing?” Alex asked, hugging the remaining cover around himself.   
“You’ll see.”  
Jack picked one of the candles and made his way to his bedroom. He knew he had some around it was just where exactly. It took a few minutes before Jack came back; Alex looked up at him with a confused look from where he was still huddled under the blanket.   
“How well do you know the rules to Go Fish?” Jack asked.   
“What?”  
“Man, did you never go camping? It’s a card game, I thought it help keep our mind off the cold,” Jack said.   
“Oh... And no, I’ve never been camping.”  
“This’ll all be new to you then.”  
Jack sat back down on the couch and Alex reluctantly gave up half the blanket so they were both covered again.   
“Basically, I deal out seven cards out each and the aim is to get all the cards of the same numbers from every suit. You can ask me if I have any of a certain number, such as ‘Do you have any fives?’ and if I have them I have to give them to you, but if I don’t I say ‘go fish’ and you have to pick a card out of the pile.”  
“And that’s fun?” Alex asked.   
“Well it’s all I’ve got, so it’ll have to do.”  
Alex just shrugged and sniffed, still failing to get any air through his blocked sinuses.   
So the game began, fucking go fish in the low light of six candles in their freezing cold dorm; but as Alex went fishing for the fifth time he smiling, maybe the whole being stuck in a snow storm wasn’t so bad after all. At least it wasn’t so bad when you had someone like Jack.   
“Do you have sevens?” Jack asked.   
“Shit,” Alex muttered as he passed Jack four sevens, enough for him to complete the set.   
“You suck at this game,” Jack said, making up his fourth set in five minutes.   
“I’m new at this, give me time!”   
Jack chuckled and Alex stuck his tongue out at him. They’d never really been that close before, sure they’d lived in the same small space for the past few months but the two had never really been together. Maybe it was the start of something, the start of something neither could have ever predicted.   
“Queens please,” Alex coughed.   
“Fuck.”   
Jack handed them over and Alex added them to his set. The boys were on their sixth game and Jack was currently winning three games to two.   
“One more set and its three games each,” Alex said.   
“I’m not losing to a newbie.”  
Alex laughed and coughed, Jack rubbing his back until it was over. He wasn’t sure when he’d started doing it but somehow the gesture seemed natural.   
“Do you have any Jack’s?” Jack asked, smiling at his own pun.   
“No I unfortunately own no Jack’s,” Alex replied.   
Jack picked up a card from the ‘fishing’ pile and frowned as it didn’t help.   
“Do you have any threes?” Alex asked.   
“Shittt.”  
“Ha!”   
Alex took the cards and the game, making them all level and three games each.   
“I blame the cold, it’s messing with my card playing ability,” Jack said.   
“I thought you said you played this camping, isn’t it always cold?” Alex asked.   
“Not if you camp in the Summer.”  
“Smart ass.”   
“How about I take you one day? We can go somewhere warm, Florida maybe and camp by the ocean,” Jack offered.   
“Really?”   
“Sure.”   
Alex smiled and Jack couldn’t help smiling back. What started out as a disaster of a day turned out not to be so bad after all. 

About half way through the seventh game and Jack began to notice Alex’s eyes drifting closed every so often. He was fighting to stay awake and it looked like he was losing. At some point his head fell to Jack’s shoulder and Jack ended up with a lap full of sleepy, sick Alex. He didn’t mind though, in fact he started to quite enjoy having Alex by his side, it just felt right...   
He kissed Alex’s forehead and closed his eyes, feeling content and warm for the first time in forever. The power came back on about an hour later, the heat returning to the dorm room but the boys didn’t wake. They stayed happy and comfortable, cuddled up together, the first of many nights to come.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys,   
> I hope you liked this one, I have a few more College AU ideas I've got coming up soon. Also do you even play Go Fish in America? I have no idea. It's a game I used to play with my grandparents when I was little.   
> As always thanks for reading :) xx


End file.
